


Sheet Music and Sports

by ChibiTabatha



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Accidental Slut Shaming, Alternate Universe - High School, Character Development, Developing Friendships, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Gen, Idiots in Love, Jocks and Musicians, M/M, Multiple confessions, Pining, Strained Friendships, These Are Teenagers, school band, some strong language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25791661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiTabatha/pseuds/ChibiTabatha
Summary: Rhett is jock who just transferred into a new school. Somehow he can't seem to avoid the weird band kid, or her attractive trumpet playing friend. Too bad he can't play well.
Relationships: Link Neal & Original Female Character(s), Rhett McLaughlin & Original Character(s), Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Sheet Music and Sports

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sohox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sohox/gifts).



> Em wanted 3k of terrible trumpet playing Link and jock Rhett. And then I wrote this. So I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing this.

Rhett honestly didn’t understand what the fuss was about Band. The class, or the after school ‘club’. One of the girls in his math class would sometimes have a clarinet case by her feet on the days that Band met during lunch. She was also weird as hell and Rhett assumed everyone who took Band was also weird.  
  
To be fair, he was new to this school, but that didn’t stop him from joining any sports team he could. With his height he managed to get into basketball and volleyball. Oddly enough the school he joined didn’t have football, but it absolutely had rugby. Which he may have been too tall for, but he joined the team anyways.  
  
He eventually was approached by the track and field team. They wanted him to join, didn’t matter for what. He was athletic enough he could choose anything really.  
  
He slowly gained popularity with the other jocks of the school. Although he cursed his family for moving to a place with such a small student body. Anytime the guys would complain about their grades someone would mention the weird band chick. It got to the point where he’d run into her in the hall and she’d greet his friends by name and talk to them. The nerve of her.  
  
One day though, she had a tall lanky kid with her. They had their heads bent together, laughing about something. When Andrew stopped her to ask her about some science question, she smiled at the pair before answering his question.  
  
Rhett managed to get a good look at the brunet. He was tall, not quite as tall as Rhett was, and something about him seemed delicate. Big blue eyes blinked up at him before narrowing in a sharp glare at Rhett. The boy wrapped a hand around the girl’s shoulder, interrupting her and Andrew. “C’mon, we gotta go to practice.”  
  
The girl looked at her watch, before a confused frown graced her features. “We still have time.”  
  
The mystery boy shook his head no. “You promised to help our section.”  
  
Dawning horror took over her features. “I forgot. Sorry Andrew, Rhett. Link and I will be on our way now. I’ll help you with the Bio homework after practice, okay?” She didn’t even hesitate to wait for an answer before she took the mystery brunet by the wrist and made a break for the music room.  
  
“What crawled up his ass?” Rhett scoffed.  
  
“Probably you. Your distaste for Paige is weird.” Andrew shrugged.  
  
“She’s weird. Her friends are weird. Sometimes I see her and her friends and I laugh. They’re the rejects.”  
  
Yeah, maybe his words were a bit harsh. But it was true. There were guys from both the rugby team and the volleyball team in that group. One of them wasn’t a typical jock, considering he was one of the kids labeled “genius” by other students. The other was just some womanizer, flitting from one group of girls to another. Like he was trying to get with the whole student population.  
  
“Don’t let the kids from track and field hear you say that. One of them’s known her since grade four or something.”  
  
Rhett reeled. How could so many people know the weird kid? They weren’t the popular group. They sat by themselves in the staircase nearest the music room, or even up in the drama room hallway.  
  
“Whatever. Let’s go.”  
  
He was most definitely not sulking.

* * *

He watched as the Band kids got ready to play, they filtered out from the side curtain with chairs and music stands. Weirdly enough, he didn’t see the mystery boy sitting with the group. An empty chair and stand in the trumpet section the only indication that someone was missing. Maybe he was there as moral support for his friend? Maybe he was sick.  
  
Then he came out, trumpet in hand and he sat amongst his peers. Rhett smirked. The kid couldn’t even show up on time.  
  
He noticed Paige turned in her chair, she was talking gently to her friend it looked like.   
  
When the teacher took his place in front of the group, they settled immediately. The whole auditorium did really. Rhett was confused, it was just a small performance to advertise the band. They maybe had twelve people sitting down there.  
  
He squinted slightly. “Is that Luke?”  
  
Andrew laughed quietly, “Yeah, he plays the trombone. He does a lot of stuff.”  
  
He should have been the most popular kid in the school, he was smart, did sports, and could play an instrument. “What the hell?”  
  
Someone shushed them, just as the teacher raised his arms. He was originally expecting some sort of classical piece. He was not expecting the Mission Impossible theme from the students on stage.  
  
His jaw dropped. He assumed they’d play pretentious music, but here they were, playing more modern songs. He almost snorted when they played Arabian Nights. Yet for some reason something was off. Someone wasn’t hitting the right notes or something. It would start and stop.  
  
After a while he scanned the students again. Paige was smiling around her mouth piece, when she wasn’t playing. Luke had an intense frown of concentration as he moved his instrument. The other kid, he seemed to be playing at first glance, but maybe he wasn’t, he couldn’t be sure.  
  
When the students seemed to be done, the whole brass section stood, and bowed. The audience applauded while they left. Except for Luke. Now there was only Paige, Luke, some kid with a flute and another with the clarinet. They shifted their chairs a little, in a line. Luke on one end and the flute on the other. They ended up playing two classical pieces like that.  
  
Rhett didn’t know much about music, or about instruments, but he knew that this performance was built around Paige.  
  
They stood and bowed before filing off stage as well, applause sharp on their heels.  
  
“Whoa.”  
  
“They have practice after class today. You want to check it out?” Andrew nudged his side.  
  
Rhett thought of pink cheeks and blue eyes, turning the offer over. “Yeah, couldn’t hurt, right?”

* * *

The music room was open and well lit, despite being partially underground. The windows showed the grass was maybe at chest height with Rhett. A couple of students Rhett didn’t recognize were loitering in the back of the room. Andrew led him towards them.  
  
Paige was at the front of the class, there were a handful more players than had been on stage. “Great job today guys! And don’t worry if you couldn’t join us this time, there’s always next time.” She clapped her hands together. “I know we have a bit of an audience, but Mr. Charlotte wants us to work through our scales, then head to the rooms if we need to. We’re working on Every Breath You Take. I’ll pass out the sheet music, okay?”  
  
Clearly she was the head of this particular band of misfits. The flutes, there were now three of them, took the music and headed immediately into one of the practice rooms. Luke was the only trombone and it looked like he went into a storage room, not a practice room. The grouping of clarinets joined the flutes, and the saxophone players disappeared into another room. That left the seven trumpet players in the room with Paige and their audience.  
  
“Sorry you guys probably came here to see something similar to our performance today. But it takes a lot of work before we’re at that point.” Paige walked up the player seating area, which Rhett realized was actually in levels. He wondered if that affected the sound at all.  
  
A couple of the students murmured assent or dissent about the statement. “You’re welcome to stay, the trumpet is a fairly popular instrument. They’re the largest and loudest group, so they tend to stay out here in the main room.”  
  
A girl raised her hand, “Does no one play the piano?”  
  
Paige frowned, before her face turned back into the friendly smile she always seemed to wear. “If you’re looking for a performance from Adrian, you’ll have to ask him. He doesn’t show up here often.”  
  
After that statement was stated, some of the more popular girls left.  
  
“Well, grab some chairs, make yourself comfortable. We just ask that you try not to interrupt us too badly.”  
  
The trumpets had paired off, other than the kid Rhett had his eye on. “Did you play any instruments?”  
  
“I took music in grade nine with Paige. Back when everyone was an asshole to her. I played trumpet.”  
  
Rhett frowned, what did that mean?  
  
Paige pulled up a chair next to the lone trumpet player and smiled. “Alright Link. Don’t think I didn’t hear those notes you played. Let’s start with the scale. Okay?”  
  
The boy, Link, groaned, “Of course you heard that.”  
  
“I’m the stand-in conductor for a reason. Come on, I’ll do scales with you.”  
  
She pulled over her case and he watched as she built her clarinet, Link already readying his trumpet.  
  
Rhett watched as the two friends worked through their scales. She would hold and sustain a note for him to hear, before he’d copy it. They never got to the sheet music abandoned by their feet.

* * *

Link  _ sucked _ at the trumpet. He’d catch the pair playing outside in the huge field next to the school. The screech of a failed note blending into the shouts of the other players as they fell into another scrum practice for rugby. The soft notes of a clarinet with the strong punch of trumpet following while running around the track.  
  
Rhett wanted to approach Link. There was something attractive about him. Expressive blue eyes narrowed in a scowl whenever he approached the pair. Even if it was to just offer them sealed bottles of water that the teacher sent him over with.  
  
The teacher would send him or Luke over, and Rhett felt a pang of jealousy when he saw the three of them laughing so openly.   
  
He needed to figure out to get past the trumpet player’s bristly exterior.  
  
When Luke returned from his short break he heard Paige call over the field, “Who wears short shorts?!”  
  
Link called right after, “Luke wears short shorts!”  
  
The pair cackled to themselves while Luke gave them the thumbs up. Rhett blinked and finally took in his teammate’s bright pink short shorts. “Jesus dude.”  
  
Luke smirked at him, before patting his shoulder. “If you took your own head out of your ass, you might have an easier time. Talk to Paige.”  
  
Disgust filled Rhett from head to toe. If he threw Luke into the ground a little too hard, no one mentioned it.

* * *

There was absolutely no way people could think he was attracted to Paige. He liked Link! His boyishly messy brown hair, those blue eyes you could swim in for hours, those precious pink lips hiding sharp teeth and even sharper wit.  
  
What was he going to do?  
  
“Andrew, what do you do when someone thinks you like the wrong person?”  
  
Andrew’s head fell against the back of his couch. “I ask out the person I actually like. I don’t stare after them longingly.”  
  
Rhett grunted. Did Andrew think he liked Paige too?  
  
“Just join the band already. Or sit in on their lunch practices or something. Make yourself seem like less of an asshole.” Andrew’s sigh was long suffering. “Invite Paige to a rugby game. She’ll show up with Link more than likely. If they cheer for us, you’re in the clear. If they cheer for the other team or only Luke, you’re screwed.”  
  
He was already screwed if Andrew thought he was attracted to Paige.

* * *

There was a large group with Paige and Link. None of whom he recognized. Paige turned and smiled at someone in a different school’s rugby jersey, she patted his arm and then pointed to where there were two whole different schools warming up.  
  
Luke jogged over and slapped him on the back. “School triple booked the yard.”  
  
“We have space for it?” Rhett looked across the huge field.  
  
“The triple A’s start soon. Paige apparently knows someone on one of the teams. Then there’s our double A teams. Then I think about halfway through there’s a soccer game.”  
  
Rhett looked over the field again. It did seem overly large. “Cool.”  
  
“You invited Paige and the Lonkster, right?”  
  
“You mean Linkster, right?”  
  
“Absolutely not. I don’t know how many times I spell his name Lonk when texting. So that’s what I call him now.” Another friendly slap.  
  
Andrew joined the two rugby players, already in his jersey. “You gonna say hi to them, or just stare?”  
  
Rhett squared his shoulders, then marched right up to the ragtag group of people surrounding Paige and Link. A sharp icy glare from Link made his confidence shrivel slightly.  
  
“Thank you for inviting us Rhett!” Paige smiled up at him. Then she looked at her other friends and motioned to the tall blond. “Guys, this is Rhett.”  
  
Slowly names were shared and Rhett got to talking with a guy named Mike, he seemed pretty chill. They had come to cheer on their friend Alex, and one of the girls in the group, Stevie, kept giving him the side-eye.  
  
He finally had to get ready to warm up with his team, but he felt energized somehow.  
  
“Hey Paige, is there anyone you don’t know?” Andrew called over to her.  
  
Her laugh was joined by Link’s as she said ‘yes’ and he called out ‘no’ at the same time.  
  
Rhett smiled, shaking his head. Maybe he misjudged the girl, and her friends.

* * *

Rhett was groaning on the ground. Someone had tackled him a little too hard, his shoulder felt like fire. He couldn’t move it.  
  
“Link! Water! Quick!” He could hear footsteps bolting towards him.  
  
“Hey big guy, you with me?”  
  
A small hand shot in front of his nose and mouth and he huffed against it in a soft laugh. It caused him to groan in pain as his shoulder shifted. “Yeah. Took a hard hit. That’s all.”  
  
“Here, do you think he needs an ambulance? Coach wants to know.”  
  
He could hear the cap on the water bottle snapping open. Before small hands looped around his waist. “Need your help, brace your good arm on the ground, we gotta get you up.”  
  
Despite his superior size, she managed to get him up without much difficulty. Legs sprawled in front of him, he could feel himself tilting back. “No, no, no! Link, I need you to kneel behind him and support him. If I do it, he’ll crush me.”  
  
“Coach called a time-out while you do your first aid thing.” Link’s larger hand pressed against his back just over Paige’s smaller hand.  
  
“Thanks. Alright, Rhett, let’s see that shoulder.” Paige’s fingers gently squeezed at his elbow, shifting up his arm. He grunted and hissed when she pressed her palm down on his shoulder. “Yeah, it might be dislocated. I’m not a doctor. Let’s get you off the field and get you proper medical attention.” She folded his arm across his lap gently. “Keep this still. I’m going to get stuff for a makeshift sling.”  
  
Rhett watched as the girl sprinted across the field. Paige’s arms moved animatedly as she spoke with the coach and the ref. Taking the first aid kit with a small hop, like the girl was filled with adrenaline. Rhett scoffed, “What’s a tiny thing like her going to do? Wrap me up and haul me off the field? This is a joke.”  
  
The blond tried to pull away from Link, and hissed in pain when Link’s free hand came down on his shoulder. “What is your issue? Paige is literally trying to make sure you don’t fuck up your shoulder permantly. Or is your own ego so inflated with testosterone you can’t understand basic human decency?”  
  
“LINK!” Paige stumbled over her own feet, landing on the ground with a solid grunt. Shoving herself up she glared at the brunet. “Stop that! You could make it worse!”  
  
Small hands fluttered over the hand crushing against his injury, trying to pry long fingers away from doing irreparable damage.  
  
Somehow Rhett’s brain was working against him in this situation, muttering the words, “Maybe if you two didn’t make that awful racket while we were practicing, this wouldn’t have happened.”  
  
His world spun as he fell back, the warmth of Link’s support replaced by the tickle of grass against his neck. “Link!” He heard more than saw Paige cry out.  
  
A long sigh, “You’re an idiot, you know?”  
  
Rhett looked away, even as she managed to haul him up again, fastening a sling around his arm with quick efficient movements. She pulled him up and helped him walk to the sidelines of the game.  
  
As soon as they were clear, the sharp trill of the whistle announced the end of the time out. Paige helped him sit down letting him lean against her.  
  
“Why are you doing this?”  
  
He didn’t know why he asked, or if he even really wanted to know. Link had stormed off. The boy probably hated his guts now. What even was the point anymore?  
  
Paige shifted slightly, her right arm held out into his line of sight. A white lighting stripe was on her arm, but it also had six ladder rungs along the two long lines. A small white dot maybe an inch above it. How had he never noticed the fairly decently sized scar was beyond him. “What happened?”  
  
He felt her soft laugh beside him, too quiet to hear over the excitement of the scrum on the field. “I snapped my arm in half. The spot in the center there? The bone was poking out.” She stopped for a moment, maybe remembering what had happened, maybe feeling the phantom pain. “Link was with me. He was freaking out, didn’t know what to do. Well that’s a lie, we took a first aid course together when we became ‘certified’ babysitters.” This time when her laugh rolled through him, it brought a smile to his face as well. “It was scary, it hurt. But I knew enough that I didn’t move it, I didn’t move period. In fact, I shouldn’t have moved you at all.” He felt a breath shudder through her, was she going to cry? Did she think she fucked up? He was trying to think of how to tell her he was grateful, but she beat him to the punch. “I just knew, I knew that if I made them leave you there, they’d have to postpone the game, or maybe it would even be counted as a double loss; That you would blame yourself for it.”  
  
“How?”  
  
She huffed another laugh. “It’s not hard to see through you. You crave validation from all your jock friends. And you treat your crush like a grade schooler. Would you pull on his hair if it was long enough?”  
  
He went ramrod straight next to her. Everyone thought he was into Paige, but somehow she could see right through him, to his real crush. He coughed, making his shoulder twinge in pain, “Not like it matters.”  
  
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Rhett McLaughlin. I wouldn’t be so sure.”

* * *

Rhett had a minor fracture, a “fractured scapula” as the doctor gave him his official diagnosis. He told Paige about it in their next math class. She frowned at him when he said he was still going to finish out the season of rugby.  
  
“I don’t know Rhett, that could fuck up your shoulder for the rest of your life. My arm hasn’t been the same since.”  
  
The blond brushed off her concerns.

* * *

His shoulder ached, he didn’t want to clap for the graduating students, and he certainly didn’t want to see the band perform for them either.   
  
Yet he found himself looking for a familiar mop of brown hair, and when Link came out on stage with his trumpet Rhett felt a pang deep in his chest.  
  
He’d insulted the guy’s playing and never even apologized for it.

* * *

He stared at his yearbook, bright pink ink screaming at him amongst the sea of blue and black.  
  
Why the fuck did Paige have to use a pink pen?  
  
He groaned and picked up his phone and dialed the number on the page. Unsure if it was a cellphone or a landline, he’d never seen her with a cell phone before, he didn’t want to accidentally text a regular house phone and embarrass himself even more.  
  
“Y’ello?” He felt relief flood him at the same time as laughter bubbled out of his throat at Paige’s weird as hell greeting.  
  
A soft huff, almost like a gentle chastise. “I didn’t give you my number so you could laugh at me on the phone.”  
  
“Sorry, I’ve just never heard such a greeting.”  
  
A quiet laugh. “I suppose you’re right. You ready to get your head out your ass?”  
  
Rhett groaned, “He’s been avoiding me like the plague.”  
  
He could hear the clack of a keyboard, and the squeak of an office chair. “I mean, if one of the attractive jocks insulted my playing, I’d be pretty upset, yeah.”  
  
The blond threw himself across his bed, staring up at one of his band posters. “Why aren’t you mad at me?”  
  
There was a long silence, was that a question he should have saved for when they became proper friends? Finally he heard a long sigh. “Because I’m weird? Because I’m a doormat? Look, it doesn’t matter. We weren’t friends to begin with, I wasn’t expecting you to develop a crush on my best friend. And if you two weren’t both as straight as a rainbow, my life may be easier.”  
  
“What?” Rhett resisted the urge to look at his phone and blink at it.  
  
“You come to our school, suddenly it feels like, you’re tall, you do sports, and you never slept with Kayla.”   
  
He spluttered at that last part.  
  
“She’s tried to sleep with every tall blond sport player. Remember Stevie? She used to go to this school, anyways, we used to moan about how all the hot chicks at this school are vapid and dumb as bricks.”  
  
“So you inferred that I was gay, because I didn’t sleep with the school bicycle?”  
  
“Hey now. No shaming here. I’m not judging her, and neither should you. You, especially, should not be making any judgements.”  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
“It’s a start. Alright. The summer is going to be long for you, and short for me. Do you play  _ any _ online games?”

* * *

He hated that he was excited for school to start. When he saw Paige in his English class, he found himself pulling her into a huge hug. Small arms squeezed him back, before a hand on his shoulder seemed to shove them apart.  
  
“Paige! What are you doing?” Link hissed at his friend.  
  
Rhett swallowed around the lump in his throat. He was hoping to make it the whole day before having to see Link. But his hopes were dashed across the classroom floor.  
  
“Link, you know I hug all my friends.”  
  
The statement floored him, she didn’t hesitate to call him a friend even after all the dumb shit he did.  
  
“Friend? But he-”  
  
“Is R-James-M-L-12.”  
  
Rhett cringed. He couldn’t think of a better username and had chosen to use his name and his jersey number, all to play games online with Paige and Link.  
  
Link stopped, a look of hurt crossing his features before he stormed out of the class.  
  
“Link, wait!” he called after the brunet. His feet stumbling to chase the other boy through the hall.  
  
“No! Fuck off!” The brunet made a dash for the doors leading outside.  
  
Rhett sprinted after him, colliding with the doors just before they shut. The pain jolted up his arms, even after he managed to burst out into the morning light. He watched as Link made a break for the door closest to the music room. Rhett skidded after him, catching up to him just before he could get the door open. He pressed his palms against the door, gasping for breath as his heart hammered in his throat.  
  
“I’ll kill you,” he whispered so quietly, Rhett wasn’t sure he heard it.  
  
“What?”  
  
Angry eyes filled with tears glared up at Rhett, “I said, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you.” Two hands flew against his chest winding him slightly.  
  
Rhett frowned. “I’m not interested in her.”  
  
Link socked him in the gut, and Rhett’s head fell against Link’s shoulder as the air rushed out of his lungs.  
  
“Then fuck off.”  
  
The brunet managed to get out from under the taller boy. He could hear his sneakers against the asphalt behind him.  
  
“Link. ‘M sorry. Just hear me out.” His arm was pressed against the glass of the door, and even when he moved, he couldn’t see Link in the reflection.  
  
“What?”  
  
He could tell the boy’s arms were crossed, even before he turned around to look him in the eye. “Paige is cool. But I don’t like girls.”  
  
Link’s brow furrowed, confusion darkening blue eyes. “Then why are you trying to hang around her? Did one of the guys put you up to this? String her along and break her heart?”  
  
Rhett shook his head. “Nope, that's not what I’m trying to do.”  
  
“Then what is it?”  
  
Rhett let his head thunk against the glass behind him, staring at the tree behind Link in the small yard they just ripped across. “I’m interested in a trumpet player. I ran into him in the hall, he had amazing blue eyes, and the first thing he did was glare at me. I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t understand anything at this school. There’s cliques, yeah. But some of them are more accepting of others, they come together and slip apart, it was hard to wrap my head around. And somehow, this guy, who wasn’t the greatest trumpet player when I met him, couldn't get him off my mind. He never gave up. There’s no way he didn’t know he wasn’t as good as the other players. His friend, she’s always helping him out with it you see.”  
  
He stopped for a moment, let his gaze fall down to his shoes. “I insulted both of you. So I understand why you probably hate me. But I don’t hate you. I think it’s really admirable that you’re trying so hard for something you love. And I guess, by becoming friends with Paige, I was hoping I could really try hard for someone I like.”  
  
When he glanced up at Link, there was just a plain look of shock on his face. Mouth slack, eyes wide. The brunet shook his now shaggy mop of hair, “You like me?”  
  
The blond ran a hand through his short hair, before rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah.”  
  
Link frowned a little. “I’m not agreeing to date you or anything. But, let’s go out, one dinner. That’s all.”  
  
Rhett’s jaw dropped open, “Really?”  
  
Link turned around, “Make it good McLaughlin.”

* * *

He was pacing a hole in his bedroom floor. A soft hum from his bed, “You sure it’s fine for me to be here?”  
  
“I need your help Paige! I don’t know what to do! I confessed to him and then he comes back with, ‘let’s go out for dinner’. What the hell?”  
  
Paige dropped the sports magazine she was reading onto the stack by his bed. “Pretty sure I told you he doesn’t hate you. Did he say he forgave you?”  
  
“No,” he groaned as he melted into his desk chair.  
  
Paige grimaced, that couldn’t be a good sign. “Well, if you do okay with dinner, he might forgive you and you’ll be golden!”  
  
He groaned pitifully before flopping down onto the floor.

* * *

Rhett ran a palm down the front of his plaid button up, trying to smooth imaginary wrinkles. When Link walked up to him outside the small family restaurant, he offered a small smile. “Thanks for coming Link.”  
  
He got a soft hum in response.  
  
They got seated in a booth, both sitting directly across from each other, neither saying anything until the server asked for their orders.  
  
The awkward silence was eradicating his hopes by the minute. He reached for the one thing he could hope wouldn’t have Link crush his balls under the table. “How has band practice been?”  
  
Link’s eyes narrowed slightly, his hand reaching for his glass of water. Finger tapping against the glass slightly. “Good.”  
  
The blond grimaced, maybe that hadn’t been a good idea to bring up. Too late now. “When’s the next performance?”  
  
“October. We’re hoping to have some new faces this year, then we’ll have to get them up to speed.”  
  
“That’s cool. I saw the trumpet players working in pairs. Is that common for practice?”  
  
Link huffed a laugh. “For us? Yeah. The practice you saw was alright. The flute and clarinets actually practiced and weren’t just making out in the practice room.”  
  
Rhett spluttered, spilling water all over his lap. Link’s laugh was bright and bubbly, and made his scalp tingle.  
  
“Sometimes Paige gets in on it too.”  
  
“And you were worried about me breaking her heart? Jesus.”  
  
Link frowned at him, some of the levity evaporating under the heat of his gaze. “Of course.”  
  
The blond gulped down more water before releasing his glass. “Like I said. I’m sorry. I apologized to her too. She forgave me. I didn’t expect her to. And I’m kind of mad at myself for judging her so quickly.”  
  
“Why’d you judge her in the first place?”  
  
“She was listening to some weird music while doing math work, smiling and sometimes kicking her clarinet case. I thought she was on drugs, or really weird. I didn’t see her with the druggies, so I figured she was crazy.”  
  
The scowl the brunet shot at the blond had him sinking in his seat. “I said I apologized.”  
  
“You’re an idiot.”  
  
“I get that, okay?”  
  
The conversation petered out, and thankfully their food arrived to help mitigate some of the damage of Rhett consistently putting his foot in his mouth.  
  
He was maybe halfway through his burger when Link’s face turned a vivid red, and he scowled at his phone. He took a sip of his water and cleared his throat a little. “How’s your shoulder?”  
  
Rhett blinked, who did Link receive a text from to make his face burn like that? “It’s better, All healed up, so I can do sports this year. Although the doctors really want me to skip on rugby.”  
  
Link’s cheeks were still bright red when he muttered a soft, “That’s good.”  
  
Rhett could feel his own face heat up slightly, burying his face in his burger before he said anything else stupid.

* * *

“How was your date?” Rhett flinched when he heard Paige’s voice. But he didn’t feel small arms trying to crush all his ribs.  
  
“Not a date.” He heard Link reply.  
  
Rhett’s cheeks burned in shame at the admittance. He knew he’d fucked up on their date. Especially when Link pointed out that Rhett was wearing his best friend’s oversized plaid shirt.  
  
“Please, you were fussing over what to wear worse than he was.”  
  
“Well maybe if my best friend hadn’t dumped me for the enemy I wouldn’t have been ‘fussing’.”  
  
“I had to lend him my shirt. I wasn’t going to let him out of his house wearing an athletic shirt.”  
  
He heard Link laugh at that. “Of course he only has athletic clothes. He’s a jock through and through, huh?”  
  
“Then take him shopping.”  
  
He heard the brunet make several aborted noises. Rhett decided to cut off their conversation, he was already being a creep enough, listening in, he walked out from behind the corner he was hiding in. Link’s face immediately turned bright pink, while Paige smiled up at him.  
  
“How was your date?”  
  
Rhett’s jaw dropped, she couldn’t seriously be asking him that in front of Link, could she?  
  
“It was alright. Thanks for the shirt.” Rhett cringed as he could almost taste his sneakers as he shoved his own foot in his mouth.  
  
“That’s good, that’s good. I hope you two can work out your differences!” And with that, the small girl closed her locker and bounded off to her first period class.  
  
Rhett shrugged and moved to go the opposite direction, to his own locker, but a hand fisted in the back of his shirt. “Link?” he turned to eye the boy whose cheeks were pink.  
  
“This weekend, meet me at the mall. Eleven, in the food court.” Link turned on his heel and fled around the corner Rhett had emerged behind. He could hear feet thundering down the stairs as the boy fled.  
  
“Okay?” He offered his agreement up to no one in particular.

* * *

Rhett looked around the food court, nursing his smoothie that he bought to kill time. He smoothed a hand over one of his running shirts. Rhett hadn’t wanted to bother Paige about this, but he could almost hear her as he went through his closet, ‘Don’t you dare put on a basketball jersey. Who owns a baseball shirt, why do you own this? Put the basketball shorts down or I’ll burn your closet to the ground.’ He wound up wearing his one good pair of jeans and the grey running shirt he liked to wear in the fall when he did early morning jogs.  
  
“Could you look more like a jock?” He could hear the nose wrinkle in Link’s voice.  
  
“I didn’t wear any of my basketball stuff, so yeah. Probably.” He turned to look at the musician.  
  
Link was wearing a Ramones band shirt, and jeans, a purple hoodie unzipped over the black shirt. “Well we’re going to fix that. You can’t be seen going out in other people’s iconic shirts.”  
  
“That’s an iconic shirt?” Rhett fell into step beside Link.  
  
“Paige uses it as a jacket in the winter.”  
  
“Wh-what?”  
  
“Yeah, she lives like, right behind the school. So unless it’s godawful out, it’s good enough.”  
  
“Insane.”  
  
“I know.”

* * *

Rhett ended up with two new pairs of jeans, a couple of band shirts, a handful of graphic tees and plain tees. He wasn’t unhappy with the whole shopping thing. He had fun.  
  
Seeing Link smile as Rhett picked up some of the most hideous patterns was golden. He also got a gift for Paige. As a thank you gift of sorts. She was really out there, trying to get him on Link’s good side.  


* * *

As Rhett slowly got to learn about Paige and Link, he found out he wasn’t the only one to ostracize the young girl. She had been bullied for a long list of things, and then he came out of nowhere, spouting the same kind of bullshit. No wonder Andrew told him to pull his head out of his ass.  
  
He invited Paige out for dinner and properly apologized to her. Thankfully she didn’t bring out the murder voice or smile.  
  
Truth-be-told, Rhett was happy he apologized to her properly.

* * *

“Tiny shark mouths!” She squealed as she pulled the shirt from a battered gift bag.  
  
He and Link had gone on several dates, and he had a strong suspicion that if she hadn’t texted him during the date, she texted Link. The boy’s cheeks would turn a bright pink and he would ask something about Rhett, a game, his shoulder, school work. And if Rhett got a text from Paige, he’d ask about Band, his classes, any good online games lately.  
  
“I wasn’t sure when your birthday was, and I wanted to thank you.” He ran a hand through his blond hair.  
  
“If you break his heart, I’ll break your knees.” The tone of voice wasn’t the usual soft, warm pitch he associated with the girl. It was quiet and dangerous.  
  
“What?” He blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.  
  
“I said, if you break his heart, I’ll steal your shins. Bury your body in the school yard.” Her voice ticked back up into the pleasant friendly tone it normally had, and that scared him even more.  
  
He nodded softly, not taking his eyes off the girl in front of him as he slowly backed away.

* * *

Rhett paced outside the auditorium, Andrew and Luke watching him. “You’re going to be fine. Don’t overthink it.”  
  
“Andrew is right. I gotta get back there. But you got this buddy.”  
  
He watched as Luke disappeared towards the music room, and the back entrance to the auditorium.  
  
“She’ll kill me.”  
  
“I think we went over this. If she threatened you after all this time, it means one of you needs to make a move. She’s been helping you two get closer right? Then take the opportunity to ask him.”  
  
Rhett groaned, Andrew was right. But he still couldn’t help but think that Paige was waiting just beyond the doors of the auditorium, waiting to steal his kneecaps.  
  
When Rhett opened the door, he was instead assaulted by the music playing from the stage. Paige hollering Wannabe by the Spice Girls while setting up chairs and music stands. The winter concert was being set up by the school weirdo and somehow, when the thought would have made him cringe, he felt a smile pulling at his cheeks.  
  
They had pulled out a small riser for the students to sit on while playing. Paige ran up the side and jumped off the back as she went to get more chairs. Rhett watched her do it a couple of times before he approached the stage.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
She blinked over at him, before turning down her music, the song switching over to something in a language he didn’t know, but was pretty sure it was Japanese. “What’s up beanpole?”  
  
“I want to ask Link out after the concert. Can you help me?”  
  
Her eyes narrowed at him slightly, before she nodded. “Stay in the back until everyone clears out. If the teachers ask, tell them I asked you to help me clear off the stage. Okay?”  
  
Rhett nodded and offered her a small smile. “Thank you.”  
  
“Just don’t fuck it up this time.”

* * *

Rhett sat through the whole concert, jiggling his leg, wiping a sweaty palm over his thigh, running a shaking hand through his hair. The band was good, he could still hear when Link would miss a note, or whatever it was when he could tell the trumpet was making the wrong note.   
  
When the band stood to bow, the whole room burst into deafening applause. Eventually they filed off the stage, leaving the music stands and chairs behind. The rest of the student body slowly filed out of the auditorium, teachers interspersed between them, trying to control the high energy crowd. One of the teachers he recognized, but never had wandered over to him and Andrew. “Let’s go boys.”  
  
Andrew muttered a quiet, “Good luck,” before he got up to join the flow of human bodies.  
  
“Paige asked me to help her with cleaning up the stage.” Rhett squeezed his own knee, hoping that the teacher wouldn’t see his nerves in the low light of the back of the room.  
  
“Well that’s nice of you. Make sure you listen to her.” The teacher nodded before also slipping off to round up the last few stragglers. Rhett mentally agreed with the teacher, he valued life.  
  
Rhett sighed as the doors for the auditorium closed. Just before he could move to stand, Link came back out onto the stage, trumpet catching the light. The blond settled back down to watch the brunet.  
  
Link raised the instrument to his lips, cheeks rounding as he blew the first note. He played a few songs, and Rhett found he didn’t cringe, even when a note came out wrong, or a song sounded too fast. When Link dropped the instrument to his side with a sigh, Rhett began to clap.  
  
The musician startled from his spot on center stage, his face turning a bright red. Rhett couldn’t help but smile at how cute the other boy was. He stood from his seat and made his way down to the stage.  
  
Link’s face shifted from shame, to anger with every step he took. “What are you doing here?”  
  
Rhett stopped at the edge of the stage, fingers biting into the curved edge of the wood. “I wanted to see you.”  
  
Link’s head turned to the side sharply, clicking his tongue against his teeth in distaste.  
  
Rhett pulled himself up onto the stage. “I mean it Link. I like your playing. It means I can always pick you out in the sea of sound.”  
  
Link’s face dropped some of the anger, but it was replaced by doubt. “Paige put you up to this, didn’t she?”  
  
Rhett shook his head, “No way. She threatened to murder me, in cold blood, for you. She’s your best friend through and through Link. There’s no way I’m messing with her, or you. I mean it.”  
  
Link shifted his weight from one foot to the other, slowly looking up at Rhett through his lashes. “Why are you here, Rhett?”  
  
“Link,” Rhett took another step towards the boy before changing his mind and standing his ground, “I like you. I’ve probably liked you ever since you glared at me in the hall for the very first time. I get why you were suspicious of me, and why I was befriending Paige. But it was because I wanted to know more about you. I wanted to be your friend too, if nothing else. Then we went on all those dates, and I realized I wanted more. I wanted to hug you, hold your hand. K-kiss you.” He could feel his cheeks turning red at his own confession.  
  
“I’m sorry I insulted you and your playing. I was confused for a while, then in pain that one time. And I know you’ve told me I’m an idiot, but I’d like to be your idiot if you’ll have me.”  
  
Link hesitated before stepping forward and wrapping his free hand around Rhett’s. “Kiss me?”  
  
Rhett swallowed before leaning forward and pressing his lips against the petal pink lips of the other boy. He could feel fireworks going off inside his heart. Resting his forehead against Link’s he smiled softly. “Does that make me your idiot?”  
  
Link laughed, “Yeah, and I’m your terrible trumpet player.”  
  
Rhett shook his head, “No, not terrible, just unique.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how much of this is bits and pieces of my actual high school life stitched together. I did play clarinet, and I was the section leader for the woodwinds (even though it's supposed to go to a flute traditionally).
> 
> Also Luke and his short shorts are 100% real and I miss chanting the short short thing at rugby games. Rip the hot pink short shorts.
> 
> If you enjoyed this, lemme know below, or over on my [tumblr](https://chibitabathasloves.tumblr.com/).


End file.
